Connector with engaging lever

ABSTRACT

A pair of connectors with an engaging lever comprising: a first housing having an engaging lever pivotally attached thereto; a second housing which is coupled and uncoupled to the first housing by being engaged by with the engaging lever; wherein the engaging lever is composed of an operative piece and an actuating handle which are separately formed, connecting portions being provided on each of the operative piece and the actuating handle for connecting with each other, and the connecting portions being connected to form the combined engaging lever. Engaging levers having the same operative piece in structure or size and having a modified actuating handle only in length can be applied to various connector housings differing in lateral width.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a pair of improved connectors engaging witheach other and having an engaging lever by which the pair of connectorscan be coupled and uncoupled.

(2) Prior Art

In reference to connectors with engaging levers, for example, a pair ofconventional connectors L with an engaging lever as embodied in JapaneseUtility Model Preliminary Publication No. 58-178289 is disclosed in FIG.8.

The pair of connectors L with an engaging lever is composed of a femaleconnector housing a and a male connector housing b, and, to the femaleconnector housing a, a lever c is pivotally attached. On both side wallsof the male connector housing b, projections d are formed, and, on bothside walls of the female connector housing a, guiding channels al forthe projections are formed.

The projections d on the male housing b are inserted into cam grooves eformed on operative portions cl of the engaging lever c. By pivoting anactuating handle c2 of the lever c, the male connector housing b ispulled into and engaged with the female connector housing a or is pushedand separated from the female connector housing a.

In such an engaging lever c of the pair of connectors L, an operativepiece cl and an actuating handle c2 are typically integrally formed bymolding synthetic resin materials.

Therefore, when a width of the connector housings is made larger orsmaller to increase or decrease a number of terminals in the connectors,as a new engaging lever c with a corresponding longer or shorteractuating handle c2 is integrally formed in every case, a new formingdie is required and it creates a need to increase a number of partsprepared for forming various levers in length and results in a largeamount of production costs. Thus, the pair of conventional connectors Lwith an engaging lever has such a drawback.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished to overcome theabove-mentioned drawback and its object is to provide a pair ofconnectors with an engaging lever, which appropriately copes with theconnector housings in various widths by changing only a part ofcomposing members.

To achieve the object, a pair of connectors with an engaging lever,according to this invention, comprises:

a first housing having an engaging lever pivotally attached thereto;

a second housing which is coupled and uncoupled to said first housing bybeing actuated by said engaging lever;

wherein said engaging lever is composed of an operative piece and anactuating handle which are separately formed, connecting portions beingprovided on both of said operative piece and said actuating handle forconnecting with each other, and said connecting portions being connectedto form said combined engaging lever.

Further, said connecting portions on both of said operative piece andsaid actuating handle are preferably formed as locking hooks forengaging with each other.

In the pair of connectors with an engaging lever according to thisinvention, as the engaging lever for making the pair of connectorhousings coupled and uncoupled is composed of operative pieces and anactuating handle which are each separately formed, a longer actuatinghandle can be connected to the operative pieces for connector housingsof larger lateral width, and a shorter actuating handle can be connectedto the operative pieces for connector housings of smaller lateral width.Thus, the engaging lever can cope with various connectors differing inwidth. For example, in connector housings differing only in lateralwidth and receiving the same kind of terminals, the same operativepieces in structure/size are utilized and only lengths of the actuatinghandle are modified to be able to form engaging levers applied tohousings differing in lateral width.

While, alternatively, to some kinds of connector housings engaginglevers having modified operative pieces and having the same actuatinghandles may be applied.

When each of the connecting portions of the respective operative piecesand the actuating handle are formed as locking hooks, the operativepieces and the actuating handle can be fully locked by only depressingeach of the connecting portions to each other. As the locking functionis firm and cannot come off easily, engaging levers may be readilyformed by a very simple process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a pair of connectorswith an engaging lever according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the engaging lever illustrated in FIG. 1separated into its respective parts;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the connecting portion on one side ofthe actuating handle illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the connecting portion on the other sideof the actuating handle illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the connecting portion of one side ofthe operative piece illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the connecting portion of the other sideof the actuating handle illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the engaging lever illustrated in FIG.2, and the operative pieces and the actuating handle being fully locked;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a pair of conventional connectors withan engaging lever.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a pair of connectors Awith an engaging lever according to this invention. A pair of connectorsA with an engaging lever comprises a first connector housing 1, a secondconnector housing 2, and an engaging lever 3. Each of the connectorhousings is coupled to each other and, in each of the first connectorhousing 1 and the second connector housing 2, plural pairs of terminals(not illustrated) are received to be mated so as to make electricalconnections to each other.

In FIG. 2, the engaging lever 3 is shown separated into its respectiveparts and is composed of a bridge-shaped actuating handle 4 andplate-shaped operative pieces 5 / 5' connected to the each end of theactuating handle 4.

On the each end of the actuating handle 4, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.4, connecting port ions 4a/4a' having each of locking hooks 6/6' areformed.

On the operative pieces 5/5', axial openings 7/7' are formed at anapproximately middle portions thereof. Each of the axial openingsreceives a supporting projection 8 formed on each end of the firstconnector housing 1 such that the operative pieces 5/5' can be pivotallysupported by the first connector housing 1. Further, on the operativepieces 5/5', cam grooves 10/10' receiving pins 9 projected and formed onboth ends of the second connector housing 2 are provided. When the pins9 have been inserted into the cam grooves 10/10' and the operativepieces 5/5' are pivoted, as the pins are guided by the cam grooves10/10', the second connector housing 2 can be pulled into and coupled tothe first connector housing 1 or can be disengaged from the firstconnector housing 1 from be uncoupled to it.

On an upper periphery of the operative pieces 5/5', as shown in FIGS. 5and 6, each of connecting portions 5a/5a' having each of locking hooks11/11' is provided.

In order to form the engaging lever 3, the connecting portions 4a/4a' ofthe actuating handle 4 and the connecting portions 5a/5a' of theoperative piece 5 are abutted and depressed into engagement with eachother respectively. By the depressing, each of the locking hooks 6/6' isfully locked to each of the locking hooks 11/11', as shown in FIG. 7, sothat the actuating handle 4 and the operative pieces 5/5' can beconnected to form the combined engaging lever 3. In operation, theoperative pieces 5/5' can be easily pivoted by moving the actuatinghandle 4 of the combined engaging lever 3.

In regard to the actuating handle 4, various operating handles differingin length and shape and having the connecting portions 4a/4a' in thesame structure and size are prepared, for each of plural pairs ofconnectors having the operative pieces 5/5' in the same structure andsize, an appropriate actuating handle can be selected and connected tothe operative pieces to form the engaging lever.

It may be possible also that an engaging lever having modified operativepieces and having the same actuating handle can be applied to connectorhousings differing in structure.

In the pair of connectors with an engaging lever according to thisinvention, as the engaging lever making the pair of connector housingscoupled or uncoupled is composed of the operative piece and theactuating handle, which are separately formed, engaging levers havingthe same operative pieces in structure or size and having a modifiedactuating handle only in length can be applied to various connectorhousings differing in lateral width. While, to different kinds ofconnector housings, engaging levers having modified operative pieces andhaving the same actuating handle also may be applied.

Therefore, for many kinds of connector housings, the disclosed inventioncan reduce the number of parts that must be prepared for forming theconnector housings and reduces also the number of forming dies and theircorresponding elements. Moreover, it is distinguished from conventionalgate-shaped engaging levers which are integrally formed in structure,because it has no deformation in the forming process, which resultsadvantageously to improve quality of final products.

What is claimed is:
 1. A pair of connectors with an engaging levercomprising:a first housing having an engaging lever pivotally attachedthereto; a second housing for coupling and uncoupling to said firsthousing by actuation by said engaging lever; and said engaging levercontaining a pair of operative pieces and an interconnecting actuatinghandle which are each separately formed, cooperating connecting portionsbeing provided on each of said operative pieces and said actuatinghandle for interconnecting each other, and said connecting portions,when interconnected, forming said combined engaging lever, wherein eachconnecting portion comprises locking hooks on said operative piecehaving a pair of mutually oppositely disposed hooking edges, and acooperating end of said actuating handle containing a pair of mutuallyoppositely disposed hooking edges cooperable with, and disposed inopposition to, said hooking edges on said operative piece for latchedconnection therewith.
 2. A pair of connectors with an engaging lever asclaimed in claim 1, wherein, on a couple of said operative pieces, anaxial opening is formed respectively at an approximately middle portionthereof, and each of supporting projections received into each of saidaxial openings is formed on each side end of said first connectorhousing.
 3. A pair of connectors with an engaging lever as claimed inclaim 2, wherein, on said operative pieces, cam grooves which receivepins projected and formed on both side ends of said second connectorhousing are provided.
 4. A pair of connectors with an engaging lever asclaimed in claim 1 in which cooperating locking hooks on said operativepiece and said actuating handle in each connecting portion are resilientand define hooking edges on one member which cooperate with hookingedges on a cooperating member that, when latched, prevent relativevertical movement between the members.
 5. A pair of connectors with anengaging lever as claimed in claim 4 including means forming a recessedslot adjacent a locking hook in each member for reception of a lockinghook of the cooperating member.
 6. A pair of connectors with an engaginglever as claimed in claim 5 wherein each member in each connectingportion comprises a pair of laterally spaced locking hooks havinghooking edges disposed in one direction and the space between saidlocking hooks containing said recessed slot and having a hooking edgedisposed in a direction opposite that of said pair of hooking edges.